Taz assured her it wasn’t. That plenty of parents went on holiday without their kids. But her mum hadn’t been alone. She’d taken her scummy boyfriend, Joel. Not that she wanted to talk about him with Taz. The very thought of him made Morgan’s skin crawl. Joel was Harmony’s drug dealer, a beefy lump of a man who carried the battle scars of his profession. But Harmony saw past his broken nose and shady acquaintances. She was no stranger to cannabis and was happy to accept his freebies. But Morgan was cynical enough to know that nothing in life came for free. What bothered her the most was the way he looked at her when she walked into the room. A gaze that penetrated through to her skin. It made Morgan want to wear double layers whenever Joel was around. True to nature, he left the relationship after her mother got injured. But it didn’t stop the swell of guilt rising inside her. Joel said her mum had been high when she fell. This would never have happened if Morgan had been there to look after her. But she’d refused their invitation because she could not stand to be in Joel’s company.

Morgan’s jaw tightened as she thought things through. None of this could have happened if Little Miss Perfect hadn’t been waiting in the wings. She was the one who made her parents’ temporary separation a permanent thing. Morgan could forgive her dad for having his head turned. He was a walking cliché, a weak man unable to resist a pretty journalist who was years younger than him. But he’d been crazy to remarry so soon after his divorce. Morgan’s lips pressed together in a thin white line. No wonder they did it in secret. That’s what gold-diggers did. Got the ring on their finger before their partners’ families could make them see sense. Naomi had pushed him into it. He was her gravy train, her ticket out of her job. But Morgan could push right back. Her mum needed someone on the inside. Someone who could make things right. Her mother had two faces, each the total opposite of the other. No in between, no shades of grey. She was sweet and kind or she was selfish and thoughtless. She was nurturing and gentle or she was a lone wolf. She was a singer whose voice moved her audience to tears and when she was happy every day was an adventure. Like Ed, she lived every day with a flourish. But when she was down, it was a living hell. Since Naomi had come along, her mother had veered towards self-destruct mode. But there was still time to make things right.

Want to know something funny? Morgan typed, a twisted smile on her face.

Sure, Taz replied.